Indiana isn’t flirting with success anymore. The Hoosiers are paying to keep it.

Fresh off a national championship and a stunning 27-2 record over two seasons, head coach Curt Cignetti has secured a reworked contract that will average $13.2 million per year through 2033. The deal doesn’t extend his term, but it does elevate his paycheck from $11.6 million annually and places him firmly among the highest-paid coaches in college football.

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That number matters.

At $13.2 million per season, Cignetti joins Georgia’s Kirby Smart and LSU’s Lane Kiffin in the rarefied air of $13 million-plus club territory. For a program that hadn’t claimed an outright Big Ten title since 1945 before its 2025 breakthrough, that’s a seismic shift.

Indiana’s run wasn’t smoke and mirrors. The Hoosiers bulldozed their way into the College Football Playoff and punched their ticket to the semifinal after a New Year’s Day Rose Bowl win over Alabama. That victory triggered a clause in Cignetti’s previous agreement requiring the school to reassess his compensation and ensure he ranked no lower than third among active head coaches nationally.

Mission accomplished.

Cignetti, 64, arrived in Bloomington late in 2023 on what was then considered a bold six-year, $27 million deal. Two seasons later, that contract has been revised three times. The message from athletic director Scott Dolson is unmistakable: Indiana is all-in.

The updated agreement includes a $15 million buyout should Cignetti leave for another job and guarantees full remaining salary if he’s fired without cause. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers have locked in offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, the latter fresh off a Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

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Cignetti has made it clear he plans to retire at Indiana. After lifting the program to its first national title in 2025, he said the embrace from the state meant more than anything else.

College football has changed. The arms race is real. Indiana just proved it’s willing to spend like a heavyweight — and with Cignetti leading the charge, the Hoosiers aren’t acting like a Cinderella anymore.